Family stress affects children's health

Wednesday

May 30, 2007 at 2:00 AM

In another indicator of how high levels of stress hormones affect the immune system, a new study finds that children whose parents and families are undergoing stress have more fevers with illness than other children.

Lee BowmanLee Bowman

In another indicator of how high levels of stress hormones affect the immune system, a new study finds that children whose parents and families are undergoing stress have more fevers with illness than other children.

The study, published recently in the Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine, also shows that the function of children's natural killer cells increases under chronic stress, unlike adults, for whom the function decreases when they're under stress.

"The findings are somewhat surprising but also exciting because they show us possible new avenues for improving children's health," said Dr. Mary Caserta, senior investigator for the study and an associate professor of pediatrics at the University of Rochester Medical Center in New York.

While an illness with fever isn't necessarily worse than an illness without one, an elevated temperature is one way to objectively identify an illness, often from infection, Caserta said.

"I figured families under stress might think their children were sick more often when they actually weren't, but fevers are not subjective. The kids living with chronic stress in their families really were sick more often."

The study followed 169 youngsters ages 5-10 for three years. The study involved seven visits about six months apart. In between, parents were given digital thermometers and asked to record their children's health status every week and every time their children were ill.

The parents also completed surveys to assess their own and their family stress over the course of the study. They were asked about psychiatric symptoms, such as depression and anxiety, and about their relationship with their children, such as whether they felt detached from their child or overwhelmed by parenting. In addition, the parents reported any external stressors, such as exposure to violence or unemployment.

The new study is groundbreaking by linking stress to health and biological indicators of immune function, and the finding that stress ramps up activity by natural killer cells in children is particularly novel.

Caserta said it's not clear why children's immune systems respond to the stress hormones differently from adults'. "It may have something to do with the fact that their immune systems are still developing," she said. "More research is needed to figure it out."